Thursday, November 25, 2010

I can't describe how great this dinner is! Ratatouille Coin Purse Recipe: Cut phyllo dough sheets into 6"x6" squares. (8 phyllo sheets per purse) Brush each phyllo sheet with melted unsalted butter, one at a time and stack the phyllo sheets on top of each other. (Do not line the corners and sides of the phyllo sheets up with each other! You want as many corners exposed to the oven heat as you can so the dough gives the optical effect of fabric on a purse.) Put a little bit of chilled ratatouille on the center of the stack of phyllo sheets. (The Ratatouille recipe was posted at my Food and Recipe Blog on 11/25/2010. ) Pick the sides of the phyllo sheets up, wrapping the ratatouille and forming a purse. Butter a 3"x6" sheet of phyllo dough and roll it up to form a cord shape. Wrap the phyllo cord around the purse neck and tie a simple knot. Loosen the exposed "fabric" shaped phyllo on the top of the purse. Set the purse on a buttered baking pan. Bake the purse in a 300 degree oven till it becomes golden brown. Pork Loin Recipe: Season a boneless pork loin chop with sea salt and white pepper. Saute the pork chop with a few pats of unsalted butter over medium heat till the meat becomes a light brown color, yet is still medium rare. Drain off the excess grease. Add small porcini mushroom slices to the pan and saute them lightly. (If you use dried porcini, save the porcini soaking water to use in the sauce.) Pour some brandy in the pan with the pork and porcini. Add a little bit of thyme leaf. Reduce the liquid. Add some of the porcini water to the pan and reduce the sauce again. Add some peeled, seeded, diced fresh pear. Add some cream. Stir in a small dollop of sour cream. Reduce the sauce slowly while simmering till it becomes a medium thickness. The pork is cooked "white" in the sauce by this time. Set the ratatouille coin purse on the plate. Set the boneless pork loin chop on the plate. Cascade the sauce over and around the pork chop. This sauce is so very fine for pork! The flavor is light with pear and deep with porcini at the same time. Remember to remind your guests that there is "hot merchandise" in the purse! The ratatouille will come out of the purse steaming hot once the purse is cut open. The aroma is sensational! This is a very fine dinner recipe and a very pretty plate of food! ... Shawna